Four people have been taken to hospital after a school bus carrying 43 school pupils and a driver overturned in a field in County Down on Monday.<\/p>\n

Photographs on social media showed children in uniform walking from the blue doubledecker bus, which had a shattered windscreen.<\/p>\n

The Northern Ireland ambulance service (NIAS) indicated most of the passengers had suffered \u201cminor injuries if any\u201d, such as cuts and bruises, with eight people requiring more serious medical treatment.<\/p>\n

In a later update, it said most were well enough to be discharged at the scene, which is near the towns of Donaghadee and Newtownards.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: \u201cFollowing a road traffic incident this afternoon in the Carrowdore area, the NIAS declared a major incident, based on the number of resources required to attend the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitial reports indicated that approximately 70 people were onboard the bus. This figure has been revised to 43 and a driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cNIAS has assessed and treated patients at the scene, with four currently requiring further treatment at hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe remainder have either been, or are in the process of being, assessed with a view to discharging at the scene. As this remains an ongoing incident, NIAS will provide further updates as appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylan Lee, 12, a year eight pupil at Strangford Integrated College, suffered minor injuries in the crash.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the PA news agency at the scene, where he had been joined by his mother Stacey Lee, he said: \u201cI was on the top deck on the right-hand side. I was just sitting with my friend: he is fine, he just hurt his arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bus hit a post and it started to stall and went down this hill. It just started shaking. I closed my eyes and then I opened them and I was on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe first thing I did when I got up was to phone my mum.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mother said Dylan had a lump and a cut on his head, adding: \u201cI could hear him screaming that he had crashed and I could hear all the kids in the background screaming. It was awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylan added: \u201cThen there was this guy came down with a hammer and the windows were all being smashed so we could get out. I was crawling under stuff like railings and school bags and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local councillor Peter Wray said: \u201cI don\u2019t believe any of them [the injuries] are incredibly serious. The school are asking parents not to go to the scene \u2026 they are encouraging parents to go to the school.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ulster Unionist councillor said the incident did not involve any other vehicles. He added: \u201cI think there was also some buses that were potentially behind, so some pupils will have seen this. As well as the people directly [affected], it could also cause some stress for other pupils or other people who have seen this incident and have been distressed by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local SDLP representative Will Polland said concerns had been raised multiple times about the road where the crash occurred.<\/p>\n

The incident happened at about 3.45pm. The Police Service of Northern Ireland described the incident as a \u201cserious road traffic collision\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source: www.theguardian.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four people have been taken to hospital after a school bus carrying 43 school pupils and a driver overturned in a field in County Down on Monday. Photographs on social media showed children in uniform walking from the blue doubledecker bus, which had a shattered windscreen. The Northern Ireland ambulance service (NIAS) indicated most of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n